One of New Jersey’s top Republicans pressured Gov. Phil Murphy to suspend the state’s mask mandate for fully vaccinated individuals a day after new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said such persons no longer needed to wear face coverings in most situations.
“The governor says we need to follow the science,” Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick said. “The science tells us that it is safe to end social distancing and masking requirements for fully vaccinated people. Governor Murphy should immediately follow the guidance from the leading public health agency in the nation.”
The CDC on Thursday said fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in a broad set of situations, including ones where risk of transmission is high, like crowded indoor religious services and exercise classes.
Murphy in an appearance on MSNBC Thursday did not comment on the new guidelines, which were released just hours before his television hit, though Murphy Deputy Press Secretary Alex Altman on Twitter said the administration was reviewing the new rules.
“We continue to move forward in our efforts to vaccinate all willing and eligible individuals who live, work, or study in New Jersey,” she said.
It’s not clear how the administration will react to the new guidance, which comes as vaccinations continue to lag in some of New Jersey’s largest cities.
Though vaccine rates in many suburbs number in the 70s and 80s, just 31% of adults in Newark were fully inoculated against the virus Friday. That number was just 22% in Trenton and 26% in Camden.
They’ve also lagged in some rural communities. Only 20% of adults in Maurice Township, a rural and sprawling Cumberland County township of about 6,000, were fully vaccinated. In Montague Township, a wooded enclave of about 3,700 at the state’s northwestern tip, 26% of adults had completed their vaccine regiment.
There’s also the question of enforcement. The relaxed CDC guidance applies only to vaccinated residents, and there are sure to be lingering concerns about compliance among the state’s vaccine-hesitant.
Despite a favorable regard from Murphy, New Jersey has no vaccine passport program, and while the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced a bill to criminalize counterfeit vaccination record cards in a 9-2 vote, that measure still needs to be approved by the chamber’s Appropriations Committee.
It hasn’t yet moved in the Assembly.
Bramnick’s call comes as Republicans continue to urge Murphy to relax restrictions imposed to stem the spread of the virus in what could be the final leg of the pandemic.
State Sen. Kristin Corrado (R-Totowa) on Friday called on the governor to relax capacity restrictions on New Jersey’s day care centers, citing the impact of childcare availability on the state’s economy.
“We want working parents to be able to get back to business,” she said. “Everywhere you turn, there are businesses struggling to fill jobs, and part of the reason is because families can’t find daycare. The centers are encumbered by restrictions that don’t pertain to other businesses, and it is creating hardships for business owners, employees and families.”